It's 2052 A.D. NASA are launching a six-year mission around the Solar System in a spaceship named Antares, to be manned by eight astronauts: Israeli doctor Evram Mintz (Eyal Podell); Canadian biologist Jen Crane (Christina Cox), German pilot Nadia Schilling (Florentine Lahme); chief engineer Maddux Donner (Ron Livington), who infamously left two colleagues to die on the surface of Mars during a previous mission; landing pilot and documentarian Paula Moales (Paula Garcés); theoretical physicist Steve Wassenfelder (Dylan Taylor); commander Ted Shaw (Malik Yoba); and pixie-like geologist Zoe Barnes (Laura Harris), the inexperienced astronaut who slept with Donner while she was a rookie.Inspired by the excellent 2004 BBC docu-drama Space Odyssey: Voyage To The Planets, this multi-national production was pitched as "Grey's Anatomy in space" but it's unstable in its twin desire to be a space-faring adventure and a tight relationship drama. Many of the characters are romantically entangled with colleagues, or at least have a sexual history together that causes tension, but the constant flashbacks to reveal their backstories are mainly distracting.
It's difficult to get excited about the current mission, or feel anxious about its tribulations (a crazy doctor, someone blown out of an airlock), because the show always has one eye on tedious events that happened months ago. In fact, I'd argue that ditching the flashback structure and telling a linear story (training to mission) would have built more anticipation and interest. Space is the final frontier, but all sense of a frontiersman spirit in the face of the unknown is suffocated by Defying Gravity always looking in the rear-view.
There are a few things that keep you watching: the special effects are crisp, accomplished and largely convincing (save for the occasional obvious greenscreen shot), particularly in HD; and there are hints of a mystery relating to something called "Beta" stowed as cargo, together with the suggestion NASA have an ulterior motive for the whole mission. But on the opposite side of the scale are its dull relationships, often atrocious dialogue, and a non-linear structure that doesn't help its cause. There are also some unintentionally amusing moments of ridiculous drama, too -- like when Donner slugged a superior, jumped aboard a shuttle, blasted off into space, then talked through his windscreen to a crazy Indian doctor sat atop Antares' exterior hull! I guess hopping on shuttles is like hailing a taxi mid-century, and nobody aboard the orbiting Antares could have dealt with the problem?Ironically, Defying Gravity feels too weightless to grip anyone but the most easily pleased. Any hint of a sharp edge has been smoothed over -- assumedly in a misguided attempt to appeal to a female demographic. The sadness being that most women watching are likely to be just as bored by Maddux/Zoe as the guys watching. And its few glints of intrigue (the phantom baby, Maddux's recurring dream of Zoe floating naked into space) aren't central enough to make me confident they aren't idle flourishes. Maybe it'll improve once the mission is significantly advanced, the fog of the "Beta" mystery dissipdates, and the flashbacks becomes infrequent (or actually have greater baring on people's decision-making, a la Lost), but I'm not convinced the quality of writing is strong enough to chart a worthwhile course through the stars.
21 October 2009
BBC2/BBC HD, 9pm
written by: James D. Parriott directed by: David Straiton (1.1) & Peter Howitt (1.2) starring: Ron Livingston (Maddux Donner), Malik Yoba (Ted Shaw), Andrew Airlie (Mike Goss), Paula Garcés (Paula Morales), Florentine Lahme (Nadia Schilling), Karen LeBlanc (Eve Weller-Shaw), Ty Olsson (Rollie Crane), Zahf Paroo (Ajay Sharma), Eyal Podell (Dr. Evram Mintz), Maxim Roy (Claire Dereux), Dylan Taylor (Steve Wassenfelder), Peter Howitt (Trevor Williams), Christina Cox (Jen Crane), Laura Harris (Zoe Barnes), Charles Haid (Maddux's Father), William C. Vaughan (Arnel Poe), Leanne Adachi (Suki Cho), Lara Gilchrist (Sharon), D. Neil Mark (Walker), Adrian Hough (CAPCOM) & Michael St. John Smith (ISO Man)
